Posts Tagged: Cultural diversity

“One of the big denials that one still hears a lot in Finland is its denial of the rise of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, an Islamophobic party that won 39 seats in the parliamentary elections of 2011 from just 5 MPs in previously. There was an ongoing debate after 2011 within the PS on what caused its historic election victory. Then party leader Timo Soini claimed it was anti-EU sentiment while its present leader, Jussi Halla-aho, claimed it was the PS’ Islamophobic stance.

It is surprising to hear how some politicians and journalists continue to have simplistic and apologetic views of racism and bigotry in this country. If YLE’s Päivi Happonen and Atte Kaleva’s words are to be believed on Pressiklubi, the Finnish media has finally woken up and writes more balanced stories about migrants and minorities that live in Finland.

An opinion poll and two results: how do young and older people vote and what does it say about the political future of Muslims and cultural diversity in Finland? For one, it suggests that matters will get worse before they improve.

Rebecka Holm is the brave adolescent from Helsinki, who in 2012 spoke out against the racist harassment she regularly experienced on the way to school. She got fed up with the situation and wrote a letter to the Swedish daily, HBL, denouncing what she and her friends experienced too often. “If Finland is now the most

Instead of showing leadership and giving a public face to our ever-growing culturally and ethnically diverse non-white society, President Sauli Niinistö does the opposite again. I have said it before and I wil say it again: President Niinistö is no friend of non-white Finland. In an interview on YLE, Niinistö gave an Iraqi man’s example of

Here’s a very simple question: Why isn’t there in Finland any street named after Rosa Emilia Clay, the first African naturalized Finn in 1899? There is no street in Tampere that carries her name, where she resided shortly after migrating to the United States, and in Mustinlahti, where she was an elementary school teacher.

What do you think are the main issues that migrants and minorities face in Finland? Is the majority population having a difficult time sharing public spaces with migrants and minorities? Are Finns suspicious of difference? Do they fear that they’ll lose power and privilege as our society becomes ever-culturally and ethnically diverse?* One of the